It's a new season. It's game one. Arguably the best team iufb will play all year. So no need to rush to judgement. These are just some of my notes from the game.
QB Situation - Jackson and Sorsby split the snaps pretty evenly. Sorsby went out first but looks like the matter is still undecided. I look for this to continue in to next week against Indiana St. I wouldn't be surprised if Jackson starts the first half and Sorsby starts the second half against the Sycamores. We'll see if there is any separation that happens. To me by the Louisville game you have to make a decision and go with it unless they are planning to split it all year and basically ride the hot hand game by game. I don't think Allen wants to do that but we'll see.
Play calling - I saw quite a bit of hand-wringing and consternation on Twitter...I mean X lol. And in light of what we watched last year I get it. But I want to give it a couple more games to see what happens. Look at Ohio State. They were breaking in a colt at QB today and they only scored 23 points. I'm sure the BuckNut fan base is a little uneasy about only scoring 23 against Indiana. The point is even OSU doesn't just throw a guy to the wolves, it's a process and you have to bring him along according to where they are in the process. It's no different for Sorsby and Jackson. And the opponent was one of the best teams in the country. So let's not freak out yet.
Offensive Line - We can say that they are not blatantly a liability. Which we could not say for much of the year last year. Bedford at Guard I was not expecting. I honestly wasn't watching super close...seems like at the very end it started to break down a little bit. I don't even know if the starters were still in or not.
Lucas - news flash, he's one of the best kick returners in the country. The broadcast said his injury issue was cramps. If that's the case nothing to be concerned about.
WRs - Overall I need more data. Camper made a couple nice plays which was encouraging. On one of the later drives I thought maybe some chemistry between Sorsby and McCulley was starting to develop maybe.
RBs - There wasn't much there. It was almost triple option at times - I didn't see that coming. Next week there will probably be some yards on the ground but that won't really be a reflection of what we have either.
TEs - Not much to say except I saw 2 TE formations several times, which I am all for.
Defense - Again it's just week one but it appears this will be the strength of this team. I thought they had good looking players on all three levels. The linebackers we free to make plays which reflects well on the DL. Casey was awesome and 7 was flying around making plays too. I thought the secondary was physical and there weren't any catastrophic breakdowns which happened repeatedly last year. But to be fair OSU definitely did not have the pedal to the metal.
Special Teams - Evans has turned into a good punter. Remember how shaky he was in his first year? That has worked out after all. Freeman doinked in that 42 yarder but they all count the same. I know he's got a good leg, hopefully accuracy doesn't end up being an issue.
Game Management - I didn't like going for it on 4th down just a little beyond midfield at the end of the 1st half. I think the message to the team was we are here to win this, and I get it, but you have to read the game as well. Based on what the offense was doing in the game I'm not sure that was the time to go for it. If the offense was rolling and being effective I don't mind being aggressive like that. But you end up giving away 3 points and almost 7. It should have been 7-3 at half time.
I'm actually excited to see both of the QBs again next week because it looks like CTA hasn't been just blowing smoke, that's a very close race. I'm leaning Sorsby right now but let's see what happens next week and beyond. I didn't plan to write this much but it is what it is. Thank you for reading if you made it this far.
QB Situation - Jackson and Sorsby split the snaps pretty evenly. Sorsby went out first but looks like the matter is still undecided. I look for this to continue in to next week against Indiana St. I wouldn't be surprised if Jackson starts the first half and Sorsby starts the second half against the Sycamores. We'll see if there is any separation that happens. To me by the Louisville game you have to make a decision and go with it unless they are planning to split it all year and basically ride the hot hand game by game. I don't think Allen wants to do that but we'll see.
Play calling - I saw quite a bit of hand-wringing and consternation on Twitter...I mean X lol. And in light of what we watched last year I get it. But I want to give it a couple more games to see what happens. Look at Ohio State. They were breaking in a colt at QB today and they only scored 23 points. I'm sure the BuckNut fan base is a little uneasy about only scoring 23 against Indiana. The point is even OSU doesn't just throw a guy to the wolves, it's a process and you have to bring him along according to where they are in the process. It's no different for Sorsby and Jackson. And the opponent was one of the best teams in the country. So let's not freak out yet.
Offensive Line - We can say that they are not blatantly a liability. Which we could not say for much of the year last year. Bedford at Guard I was not expecting. I honestly wasn't watching super close...seems like at the very end it started to break down a little bit. I don't even know if the starters were still in or not.
Lucas - news flash, he's one of the best kick returners in the country. The broadcast said his injury issue was cramps. If that's the case nothing to be concerned about.
WRs - Overall I need more data. Camper made a couple nice plays which was encouraging. On one of the later drives I thought maybe some chemistry between Sorsby and McCulley was starting to develop maybe.
RBs - There wasn't much there. It was almost triple option at times - I didn't see that coming. Next week there will probably be some yards on the ground but that won't really be a reflection of what we have either.
TEs - Not much to say except I saw 2 TE formations several times, which I am all for.
Defense - Again it's just week one but it appears this will be the strength of this team. I thought they had good looking players on all three levels. The linebackers we free to make plays which reflects well on the DL. Casey was awesome and 7 was flying around making plays too. I thought the secondary was physical and there weren't any catastrophic breakdowns which happened repeatedly last year. But to be fair OSU definitely did not have the pedal to the metal.
Special Teams - Evans has turned into a good punter. Remember how shaky he was in his first year? That has worked out after all. Freeman doinked in that 42 yarder but they all count the same. I know he's got a good leg, hopefully accuracy doesn't end up being an issue.
Game Management - I didn't like going for it on 4th down just a little beyond midfield at the end of the 1st half. I think the message to the team was we are here to win this, and I get it, but you have to read the game as well. Based on what the offense was doing in the game I'm not sure that was the time to go for it. If the offense was rolling and being effective I don't mind being aggressive like that. But you end up giving away 3 points and almost 7. It should have been 7-3 at half time.
I'm actually excited to see both of the QBs again next week because it looks like CTA hasn't been just blowing smoke, that's a very close race. I'm leaning Sorsby right now but let's see what happens next week and beyond. I didn't plan to write this much but it is what it is. Thank you for reading if you made it this far.
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